This exhibits the essential feature and peculiarity of Mr. Leeds's system of ventilation, before described. Fresh air, admitted at the bottom of a slightly raised window, is to enter below a window-seat which projects over the stove; the air being thus warmed before entering the room. The flue of the stove is seen (in the finished corner of Fig. 71, which is a model for the four other suites of rooms on each floor) running along the wall to thefrontchimney, which also receives the corresponding stove-flue from the nearest window in the adjoining parlor: the same arrangement being repeated at the back of the house. This, the two front and back chimneys are for the heating and ventilating parlor stoves; the four central chimneys for cooking, heating, and ventilation.
When possible, in a large building, steam generated in the basement heater will be found better than the parlor stove. In this case, the room will be heated by the coil of steam-pipe mentioned before; the slab covering it being the window-seat, or guard, under which the cool fresh air is conducted to be warmed before passing into the room.
[Illustration: Fig. 71 Diagram of living quarters.] Fig. 72 shows one side of the parlor, giving a series of sliding- doors, behind which are hooks, shelves, and "shelf-boxes," as described earlier in the book.
[Illustration: Fig. 72.]
The recess occupied by the sofa stands between these two closets. In case the room is used for sleeping, the double couch on page 30 might be substituted for the sofa, serving as a lounge by day, and two single beds by night. The curtain hanging above can be so fastened by rings on a strong semi-circular wire as to be let down while dressing and undressing, as is done in some of our steamboats. Pockets and hooks on the inside of the curtains may be made very useful.
[Illustration: Fig. 73.]
Fig. 73 represents another side of the same room where are two large windows, each having a cushioned seat in its recess, (although one may be occupied by a stove, as described above.) A study-table with drawers or both the front and back sides furnishes large accommodations for many small articles.
Fig. 74 represents a third side of the same room, with sliding doors glazed from top to bottom to give light to the bedroom and kitchen.
[Illustration: Fig. 74.]
The fourth side appears on the ground plan (Fig. 71.) The ottomans and a few chairs will complete the needful furniture.
By means of forms, shelves, and shelf-boxes, the kitchen, could hold all stores and implements for cooking and setting tables, on the method shown page 34. The eating table is close to the kitchen and sink, so that few steps are required to bring and remove every article. Thus stove, sink, cooking materials, the table and its furniture, are all in close proximity, and yet, when the inmates are seated at table, the sliding-doors will shut out the kitchen, while the bad air and smells of cooking are earned off by the ventilating exhaust-shaft.
The bedroom has a bath-tub and water-closet. The tub need not be more than four feet long, and a half-cover raised by a hinge will, when down, hold wash-bowl and pitcher, when the tub is not in use. Around the bedroom high and wide shelves and shelf-boxes near the ceiling serve to store large articles; and narrower shelves with pegs under them for clothing, protected by a curtain, furnish other conveniences for storage. The trash-flue serves to send off rubbish, with but few steps, and the dumb waiter brings up fuel, stores, etc. Each bedroom must be provided with a ventilating register at the top, connecting with the warm foul-air flue in the chimney.
For a family of four persons, one parlor, with its kitchen and bedroom, couches and side closets, would supply all needful accommodations. For a larger family, sliding-doors into the adjacent parlor, its appended kitchen being arranged for another bedroom, would accommodate a family of ten persons.
A front and a back entrance may be in the basement, which, can be used for family stores, each family having one room. A general laundry with drying closets could be provided in the attic, and lighted from the roof.
Such a building, four stories high, would accommodate sixteen families of four members, or eight larger families, and provide light, warmth, ventilation, and more comforts and conveniences than are usually found in most city houses built for only one family. Here young married persons with frugal and benevolent tastes could commence housekeeping in a style of comfort and good taste rarely excelled in mansions of the rich. The spaces usually occupied by stairs, entries, closets, etc., would on this plan be thrown into fine large airy rooms, with every convenience close at hand.
In one of our large cities is to be found a Christian lady who inherited a handsome establishment with means to support it in the style common to the rich. In the spirit of Christ she "sold all that she had, and gave to the poor," by establishing aHome for Incurables, and making her home with them, giving her time and wealth to promoting their temporal comfort and spiritual welfare. Was this doingmorethan her duty—morethan the example and teachings of Christ require?
Suppose several ladies of similar views and character in one city, having only moderate wealth, and leisure, unite to erect such a building as the one described, in a light and healthful part of the city of New York, and then should take up their residence in it, and from the vast accumulation of misery and sin at hand on every side, should select the orphans, the aged, the sick, and the sinful, and spend time and money for their temporal and spiritual elevation; would they domorethan the example and teachings of Christ enjoin? Or would their enjoyment, even in this life, be diminished by exchanging a routine chiefly of personal gratification for such self-denying ministries? It was "forthe joythat was set before Him" through the everlasting ages that our Lord "endured the cross," and it is to the same supernal glories that he invites his followers, and by the same path he trod.
Here it probably will be said that all rich women can not do what is here suggested, owing to multitudinous claims, or to incapacity of mind or body for carrying out such an attempt. It will also be said that there are many other ways for practicing self-denial besides selling our homes and taking a humbler style of living. This is all true. But we are told that there are "greatest" and "least" in that kingdom of heaven where the chief happiness is in living to serve others, and not for self. Those who can not change their expensive style of living, and are obliged to spend most of their thoughts and wealth on self and those who are a part of self, will be among the least and lowest in happiness and honor, while those who take the low places on earth to raise others will be the happiest and most honored in the kingdom of heaven.
There are many residences in our large cities where women claiming to be Christ's followers live in almost solitary grandeur till the warm season, and then shut them up to spend their time at watering-places or country resorts. The property invested in such city establishments, and the income required to keep them up, would secure "Christian homes" to many suffering, neglected, homeless children of Christ, who are living in impure air, with all the debasing influences found in city tenement-houses. Meantime, the owners of this wealth are suffering in mind and body for want of some grand and noble object in life. If such could not personally live in such an establishment as is here described, by self-denying arrangements and combination with others they could provide and superintend one.
Our minds are created in the image of our Father in heaven, and capable of being made happy, as his is, by the outpouring of blessings on others. And when we are invited by our divine Lord to take his yoke and bear his burden, it is for our own highest happiness as well as for the good of others. And whoever truly obeys finds the yoke easy and the burden light, and that they bring rest to the soul. But those who shrink from the true good, to live a life of self-indulgent ease, will surely find that mere earthly enjoyments pall on the taste, that they perish in the using, that they never satisfy the cravings of a soul created for a higher sphere and nobler mission.
The Bible represents that there is an emergency-a great conflict in the world unseen-and that we on earth, who are Christ's people, are to take a part in this conflict and in the "fellowship of his sufferings," to redeem his children from the slavery of sin and eternal death; and there is the same call to labor and sacrifice now as there was when he commanded, "Go into all the world and preach the Gospel toeverycreature."
But is not the larger part of the church—especially those who have wealth—practically living on no higher principles than the pious Jews and virtuous heathen? Are they not living just as if there were no great emergency, no terrible risks and danger to their fellow-men in the life to, come? Are they not living just as if all men were safe after they leave this world, and all we need to aim at is to make ourselves and others virtuous and happy in this life, without disturbing anxiety about the life to come? And is thetrainingof most Christian families diverse from that of pious Jews, in reference to the dangers of our fellow-men in the future state, and the consequent duty of labor and sacrifice in order to extend the true religion all over the earth?
One mode of avoiding self-denial in style of living is by the plea that, if all rich Christiana gave up the expensive establishments common to this class and adopted such economies as are here suggested, it would tend to lower civilization and take away support from those living by the fine arts. But while the world is rushing on to such profuse expenditure, will not all these elegancies and refinements be abundantly supported, and is there as much danger in this direction as there is of avoiding the self-denying example of Christ and his early followers? They gave up all they had, and "were scattered abroad, preaching the word;" and was there any reason existing then for self-denying labor that does not exist now? There are more idolaters and more sinful men now, in actual numbers, than there were then; while teaching them the way of eternal life does not now, as it did then, involve the "loss of all things" and "deaths often."
Moreover, would not the fine arts, in the end, he better supported by imparting culture and refined tastes to the neglected ones? Teaching industry, thrift, and benevolence is far better than scattering alms, which often do more harm than good; and would not enabling the masses to enjoy the fine arts and purchase in a moderate style subserve the interests of civilization as truly as for the rich to accumulate treasures for themselves in the common exclusive style?
Suppose some Protestant lady of culture and fortune should unite with an associate of congenial taste and benevolence to erect such a building as here described, and then devote her time and wealth to the elevation and salvation of the sinful and neglected, would she sacrifice as much as does a Lady of the Sacred Heart or a Sister of Charity, many of whom have been the daughters of princes and nobles? They resign to their clergy and superiors not only the control of their wealth but their time, labor, and conscience. In doing this, the Roman Catholic lady is honored and admired as a saint, while taught that she is doing more than her duty, and is thus laying up a store of good works to repay for her own past deficiencies, and also to purchase grace and pardon for humbler sinners. If this is really believed, how soothing to a wounded conscience! And what a strong appeal to generous and Christian feeling! And the more terrific the pictures of purgatory and hell, the stronger the appeal to these humane and benevolent principles.
But how would it be with the Protestant woman practicing such self-denial? For example, the lady of wealth and culture, who gave up her property and time to provide a home for incurables—would her pastor say she was doingmorethan her duty? and if not, would he preach to other rich women who, in other ways, could humble themselves to raise up the poor, the ignorant, and the sinful, that they are doinglessthan their duty?
Is it not sometimes the case, that both minister and people, by example, at least, seem to teach that, the more riches increase, the less demand there is for economy, labor, and self-denial for the benefit of the destitute and the sinful?
Protestants are little aware of the strong attractions which, are drawing pious and benevolent women toward the Roman Catholic Church, To the poor and neglected: in humble life are offered a quiet home, with sympathy, and honored work. To the refined and ambitious are offered the best society and high positions of honor and trust. To the sinful are offered pardon for past offenses and a fresh supply of "grace" for all acts of penitence or of benevolence. To the anxiously conscientious, perplexed with contentions as to doctrines and duties, are offered an infallible pope and clergy to decide what is truth and. duty, and what is the true interpretation of the Bible, while they are taught that the "faith" which saves the soul is implicit belief in the teachings of the Roman Catholic Church. All this enables many, even of the intelligent, to receive the other parts of a system that contradicts both common sense and the Bible.
Meantime, a highly educated priesthood, with no family ties to distract attention, are organizing and employing devoted, self-denying women, all over the land, to perform the distinctive work that Protestant women, if wisely trained and organized by their clergy, could carry out in thousands of scattered Christian homes and villages.
In the Protestant churches, women are educated only to be married; and when not married, there is no position provided which is deemed as honorable as that of a wife. But in the Roman Catholic Church, the unmarried woman who devotes herself to works of Christian benevolence is the most highly honored, and has a place of comfort and respectability provided which is suited to her education and capacity. Thus come great nunneries, with lady superiors to control conscience and labor and wealth.
But a time is coming when the family state is to be honored and ennobled by single women, qualified to sustain it by their own industries; women who will both support and train the children of their Lord and Master in the true style of Protestant independence, controlled by no superior but Jesus Christ. And in the Bible they will find the Father of the faithful, to both Jews and Gentiles, their great exemplar. For nearly one hundred years Abraham had no child of his own; but his household, whom he trained to the number of three hundred and eighteen, were children of others. And he was the friend of God, chosen to be father of many nations, because he would "command his household to do justice and judgment and keep the way of the Lord."
The woman who from true love consents to resign her independence and be supported by another, while she bears children and trains them for heaven, has a noble mission; but the woman who earns her own independence that she may train the neglected children of her Lord and Saviour has a still higher one. And a day is coming when Protestant women will betrainedfor this their highest ministry and profession as they never yet have been.
The spirit of Christian missions to heathen lands and the organizations to carry them forward commenced, in most Protestant lands, within the last century. The writer can remember the time when an annual collection for domestic missions was all the call for such benefactions in a wealthy New-England parish; while such small pittances were customary that the sight of a dollar-bill in the collection, even from the richest men of the church-members, produced a sensation.
In the intervening period since that time, the usual mode of extending the Gospel among the heathen has been for a few of the most self-sacrificing men and women to give up country and home and all the comforts and benefits of a Christian community, and then commence the family state amid such vice and debasement that it was ruinous to children to be trained in its midst. And so the result has been, in multitudes of cases, that children were born only to be sent from parents to be trained by strangers, and the true "Christian family" could not be exhibited in heathen lands. And as a Christian neighborhood, in its strictest sense, consists of a collection of Christian families, such a community has been impossible in most cases among the heathen.
[Illustration: Fig. 75]
When our Lord ascended, his last command was "Go ye into all the world, and preach the Gospel toeverycreature." For ages, most Christian people have supposed this command was limited to the apostles. In the present day, it has been extended to Include a few men and women, who should practice the chief labor and self-sacrifice, while most of the church lived at ease, and supposed they were obeying this command, by giving a small portion of their abundance to support those who performed the chief labor and self-sacrifice.
But a time is coming when Christian churches will under stand this command in a much more comprehensive sense; and the "Christian family" and "Christian neighborhood" will be the grand ministry of salvation. In order to assist in making this a practicable anticipation, some additional drawings are given in this chapter. The aim is to illustrate one mode of commencing a Christian neighborhood that is so economical and practical that two or three ladies, with very moderate means, could carry it out.
A small church, a school-house, and a comfortable family dwelling may all be united in one building, and for a very moderate sum, as will be illustrated by the following example.
At the head of the first chapter is a sketch which represents a perspective view of the kind of edifice indicated. On the opposite page (Fig. 75) is an enlarged and more exact view of the front elevation of the same, which is now building in one of the most Southern States, where tropical plants flourish. The three magnificent trees on the drawing heading the first chapter are live-oaks adorned with moss, rising over one hundred feet high and being some thirty or more feet in circumference. Nearly under their shadow is the building to be described.
[Illustration: Fig. 76.]
Fig. 76 is the ground plan, which includes one large room twenty-five feet wide and thirty-five feet long, having a bow window at one end, and a kitchen at the other end. The bow-window has folding-doors, closed during the week, and within is the pulpit for Sunday service. The large room may be divided either by a movable screen or by sliding doors with a large closet on either side. The doors make a more perfect separation; but the screen affords more room for storing family conveniences, and also secured more perfect ventilation for the whole large room by the exhaust-flue.
Thus, through the week, the school can be in one division, and the other still a sizable room, and the kitchen be used for teaching domestic economy and also for the eating-room. Oil Sunday, if there is a movable screen, it can be moved back to the fireplace; or otherwise, the sliding—doors may be opened, giving the whole space to the congregation. The chimney is finished off outside as a steeple. It incloses a cast-iron or terra cotta pipe, which receives the stove-pipe of the kitchen and also pipes connecting the two fireplaces with the large pipe, and finds exit above the slats of the steeple at the projections. Thus the chimney is made an exhaust shaft for carrying off vitiated air from all the rooms both above and below, which have openings into it made for the purpose.
Two good-sized chambers are over the large lower story, as shown in Fig. 77. Large closets are each side of these chambers, where are slatted openings to admit pure air; and under these openings are registers placed to enable pure air to pass through the floor into the large room below. Thus a perfect mode of ventilation is secured for a large number.
[Illustration: Fig. 77.]
On Sunday, the folding-doors of the bow-window are to be opened for the pulpit, the sliding-doors opened, or the screen moved back, and camp-chairs brought from the adjacent closet to seat a congregation of worshipers.
During the week, the family work is to be done in the kitchen, and the room adjacent be used for both a school and an eating-room. Here the aim will be, during the week, to collect the children of the neighborhood, to be taught not only to read, write, and cipher, but to perform in the best manner all the practical duties of the family state. Two ladies residing in this building can make an illustration of the highest kind of "Christian family," by adopting two orphans, keeping in training one or two servants to send out for the benefit of other families, and also providing for an invalid or aged member of Christ's neglected ones. Here also they could employ boys and girls in various kinds of floriculture, horticulture, bee-raising, and other out-door employments, by which an income could be received and young men and women trained to industry and thrift, so as to earn an independent livelihood.
The above attempt has been made where, in a circuit of fifty miles, with a thriving population, not a single church is open for Sunday worship, and not a school to be found except what is provided by faithful Roman Catholic nuns, who, indeed, are found engaged in similar labors all over our country. The cost of such a building, where lumber is $50 a hundred and labor $3 a day, would not much exceed $1200.
Such destitute settlements abound all over the West and South, while, along the Pacific coast, China and Japan are sending their pagan millions to share our favored soil, climate, and government.
Meantime, throughout our older States are multitudes of benevolent, well-educated, Christian women in unhealthful factories, offices, and shops; and many, also, living in refined leisure, who yet are pining for an opportunity to aid in carrying the Gospel to the destitute. Nothing is needed butfundsthat are in the keeping of thousands of Christ's professed disciples, andorganisationsfor this end, which are at the command of the Protestant clergy.
Let such a truly "Christian family" be instituted in any destitute settlement, and soon its gardens and fields would cause "the desert to blossom as the rose," and around would soon gather a "Christian neighborhood." The school-house would no longer hold the multiplying worshipers. A central church would soon appear, with its appended accommodations for literary and social gatherings and its appliances for safe and healthful amusements.
The cheering example would soon spread, and ere long colonies from these prosperous and Christian communities would go forth to shine as "lights of the world" in all the now darkened nations. Thus the "Christian family," and "Christian neighborhood" would become the grand ministry, as they were designed to be, in training our whole race for heaven.
This final chapter should not close without a few encouraging words to those who, in view of the many difficult duties urged in these pages, sorrowfully review their past mistakes and deficiencies. None can do this more sincerely than the writer. How many things have been done unwisely even with good motives! How many have been left undone that the light of present knowledge would have secured!
In this painful review, the good old Bible comes as the abundant comforter. The Epistle to the Romans was written especially to meet such regrets and fears. It teaches that all men are sinners, in many cases from ignorance of what is right, and in many from stress of temptation, so that neither Greek nor Jew can boast of his own righteousness. For it is not "by works of righteousness" that we are to be considered and treated as righteous persons, but through a "faith thatworks by love;" thatfaithorbeliefwhich is not a mere intellectual conviction, but acontrolling purposeor spiritual principle whichhabitually controlsthe feelings and conduct. And so long as there is this constant aim and purpose to obey Christ in all things, mistakes in judgment as to what is right and wrong are pitied, "even as a father pitieth his children," when from ignorance they run into harm. And even the most guilty transgressors are freely forgiven when truly repentant and faithfully striving to forsake the error of their ways.
Moreover, this tender and pitiful Saviour is the Almighty One who rules both this and the invisible world, and who "from every evil still educes good." This life is but the infant period of our race, and much that we call evil, in his wise and powerful ruling may be for the highest good of all concerned.
The Blessed Word also cheers us with pictures of a dawning day to which we are approaching, when a voice shall be heard under the whole heavens, saying, "Alleluia"—"the kingdoms of this world are become the kingdoms of our Lord and of his Christ, and he shall reign forever and ever." And "a great voice out of heaven" will proclaim, "Behold, the tabernacle of God is with men, and he shall dwell with them, and they shall be his people. And God himself shall be with them, and be their God. And God shall wipe away all tears from their eyes; and there shall be no more death, neither sorrow, nor crying; neither shall there be any more pain; for the former things are passed away."
The author still can hear the echoes of early life, when her father's voice read to her listening mother in exulting tones the poet's version of this millennial consummation, which was the inspiring vision of his long life-labors—a consummation to which all their children were consecrated, and which some of them may possibly live to behold.
"O scenes surpassing fable, and yet true!Scenes of accomplished bliss! which who can see,Though but in distant prospect, and not feelHis soul refreshed with foretaste of the joy!
"Rivers of gladness water all the earth,And clothe all climes with beauty; the reproachOf barrenness is past. The fruitful fieldLaughs with abundance; and the land once lean,Or fertile only in its own disgrace,Exults to see its thistly curse repealed.
"Error has no place:That creeping pestilence is driven away;The breath of Heaven has chased it. In the heartNo passion touches a discordant string,But all is harmony and love. DiseaseIs not: the pure and uncontaminate bloodHolds its due course, nor fears the frost of age.
One song employs all nations; and all cry,'Worthy the Lamb, for he was slain for us!'The dwellers in the vales and on the rocksShout to each other; and the mountain-topsFrom distant mountains catch the flying joy;Till, nation after nation taught the strain,
"Behold the measure of the promise filled!See Salem built, the labor of a God!Bright as a sun the sacred city shines;All kingdoms and all princes of the earthFlock to that light; the glory of all landsFlows into her; unbounded is her joy,And endless her increase. Thy rams are there,Nebaioth, and the flocks of Kedar there;The looms of Ormus and the mines of Ind,And Saba's spicy groves pay tribute there.
"Praise is in all her gates: upon her walls,And in her streets, and in her spacious courts,Is heard salvation. Eastern Java thereKneels with the native of the farthest west;And Athiopia spreads abroad the hand,And worships. Her report has traveled forthInto all lands. From every clime they comeTo see thy beauty, and to share thy joy,O Zion! an assembly such as earthSaw never, such as Heaven stoops down to see!"[Footnote: Cowper'sTask.]
My honored countrywomen:
It is now over forty years that I have been seeking to elevate the character and condition of our sex, relying, as to earthly aid, chiefly on your counsel and cooperation. I am sorrowful at results that have followed these and similar efforts, and ask your sympathy and aid.
Let me commence with a brief outline of the past. I commenced as an educator in the city of Hartford, Ct., when only the primary branches and one or two imperfect accomplishments were the ordinary school education, and was among the first pioneers in seeking to introduce some of the higher branches. The staid, conservative citizen's queried of what use to women were Latin, Geometry, and Algebra, and wondered at a request for six recitation rooms and a study-hall for a school of nearly a hundred, who had as yet only one room. The appeal was then made to benevolent, intelligent women, and by their influence all that was sought was liberally bestowed.
But the course of study then attempted was scarcely half of what is now pursued in most of our colleges for young women, while there has been added a round and extent of accomplishments then unknown. Yet this moderate amount so stimulated brain and nerves, and so excited competition, that it became needful to enforce a rule, requiring a daily report, that only two hours a day had been devoted to study out of school hours. Even this did not avail to save from injured health both the teacher who projected these improvements and many of her pupils. This example and that of similar institutions spread all over the nation, with constantly increasing demand for more studies, and decreasing value and respect for domestic pursuits and duties.
Ten years of such intellectual excitement exhausted the nervous fountain, and my profession as a school-teacher was ended.
The next attempt was to introduce Domestic Economy asa science to be studiedin schools for girls. For a while it seemed to succeed; but ere long was crowded out by Political Economy and many other economies, except those most needed to prepare a woman for her difficult and sacred duties.
In the progress of years, it came to pass that the older States teemed with educated women, qualified for no other department of woman's profession but that of a schoolteacher, while the newer States abounded in children without schools.
I again appealed to my countrywomen for help, addressing them through the press and also by the assistance of a brother (in assemblies in many chief cities) in order to raise funds to support an agent. The funds were bestowed, and thus the services of Governor Slade were secured, and, mainly by these agencies, nearly one thousand teachers were provided with schools, chiefly in the West.
Meantime, the intellectual taxation in both private and public schools, the want of proper ventilation in both families and schools, the want of domestic exercise which is so valuable to the feminine constitution, the pernicious modes of dress, and the prevailing neglect of the laws of health, resulted in the general decay of health among women. At the same time, the overworking of the brain and nerves, and the "cramming" system of study, resulted in a deficiency of mental development which is very marked. It is now a subject of general observation that young women, at this day, are decidedly inferior in mental power to those of an earlier period, notwithstanding their increased advantages. For the mind, crowded with undigested matter, is debilitated the same as is the body by over-feeding,
Recent scientific investigations give the philosophy of these results. For example, Professor Houghton, of Trinity College, Dublin, gives as one item of protracted experiments in animal chemistry, that two hours of severe study abstracts as much vital strength as is demanded by a whole day of manual labor. The reports of the Massachusetts Board of Education add other facts that, in this connection, should be deeply pondered. For example, in one public school of eighty-five pupils only fifty-four had refreshing sleep; fifty-nine had headaches or constant weariness, and only fifteen were perfectly well. In this school it was found, and similar facts are common in all our public and high schools, that, in addition to six school-hours, thirty-one studied three hours and a half; thirty-five, four hours; and twelve, from four to seven hours. And yet the most learned medical men maintain that the time devoted to brain labor, daily, should not exceed six hours for healthy men, and three hours for growing children.
Alarmed at the dangerous tendencies of female education, I made another appeal to my sex, which resulted in the organization of the American Woman's Education Association, the object being to establishendowedprofessional schools, in connection with literary institutions, in which woman's profession should be honored and taught as are the professions of men, and where woman should be trained for some self-supporting business. From this effort several institutions of a high literary character have come into existence at the West, but the organization and endowment of the professional schools is yet incomplete from many combining impediments, the chief being a want of appreciation of woman's profession, and of thescienceandtrainingwhich its high and sacred duties require. But the reports of the Association will show that never before were such superior intellectual advantages secured to a new country by so economical an outlay.
Let us now look at the dangers which are impending. And first, in regard to the welfare of the family state, the decay of the female constitution and health has involved such terrific sufferings, in addition to former cares and pains of maternity, that multitudes of both sexes so dread the risks of marriage as either to avoid it, or meet them by methodsalwaysinjurious and often criminal. Not only so, multitudes of intelligent and conscientious persons, in private and by the press, unaware of the penalties of violating nature, openly impugn the inspired declaration, "Children are a heritage of the Lord."
Add to these, other influences that are robbing home of its safe and peaceful enjoyments. Of such, the condition of domestic service is not the least. We abound in domestic helpers from foreign shores, but they are to a large extent thriftless, ignorant, and unscrupulous, while as thriftless and inexperienced housekeepers, from boarding-school life, have no ability to train or to control. Hence come antagonism and ceaseless "worries" in the parlor, nursery, and kitchen, while the husband is wearied with endless complaints of breakage, waste of fuel and food, neglect, dishonesty, and deception, and home is any thing but a harbor of comfort and peace. Thus come clubs to draw men from comfortless homes, and, next, clubs for the deserted women.
Meantime, domestic service—disgraced, on one side, by the stigma of our late slavery, and, on the other, by the influx into our kitchens of the uncleanly and ignorant—is shunned by the self-respecting and well educated, many of whom prefer either a miserable pittance or the career of vice to this fancied degradation. Thus comes the overcrowding in all avenues for woman's work, and the consequent lowering of wages to starvation prices for long protracted toils.
From this come diseases to the operatives, bequeathed often to their offspring. Factory girls must stand ten hours or more, and consequently in a few years debility and disease ensue, so that they never can rear healthy children, while the foreigners who supplant them in kitchen labor are almost the only strong and healthy women to rear large families. The sewing-machine, hailed as a blessing, has proved a curse to the poor; for it takes away profits from needlewomen, while employers testify that women who use this machine for steady work, in two years or less become hopelessly diseased and can rear no children. Thus it is that the controlling political majority of New-England is passing from the educated to the children of ignorant foreigners.
Add to these disastrous influences, the teachings of "free love;" the baneful influence of spiritualism, so called; the fascinations of thedemi-monde; the poverty of thousands of women who, but for desperate temptations, would be pure—all these malign influences are sapping the foundations of the family state. Meantime, many intelligent and benevolent persons imagine that the grand remedy for the heavy evils that oppress our sex is to introduce woman to political power and office, to make her a party in primary political meetings, in political caucuses, and in the scramble and fight for political offices; thus bringing into this dangerousmeleethe distinctive tempting power of her sex. Who can look at this new danger without dismay? But it is neither generous nor wise to join in the calumny and ridicule that are directed toward philanthropic and conscientious laborers for the good of our sex, because we fear their methods are not safe. It would be far wiser to show by example a better way.
Let us suppose that our friends have gained the ballot and the powers of office: are there any real beneficent measures for our sex, which they would enforce by law and penalties, that fathers, brothers, and husbands would not grant to a united petition of our sex, or even to a majority of the wise and good? Would these not confer what the wives, mothers, and sisters deemed best for themselves and the children they are to train, very much sooner than they would give power and office to our sex to enforce these advantages by law? Would it not be a wiser thing toaskfor what we need, before trying so circuitous and dangerous a method? God has given to man the physical power, so that all that woman may gain, either by petitions or by ballot, will be the gift of love or of duty; and the ballot never will be accorded till benevolent and conscientious men are the majority—a millennial point far beyond our present ken.
The American Woman's Education Association aims at a plan which its members believe, in its full development, will more effectually remedy the "wrongs of woman" than any other urged on public notice. Its general aim has been stated; its details will appear at another time and place. Its managers include ladies of high character and position from six religious denominations, and also some of the most reliable business men of New York. Any person who is desirous to aid by contributions to this object can learn more of the details of the plan by addressing me at No. 69 West Thirty-eighth Street. But it is needful to state that letters from those who seek aid or employment of any sort can not be answered at present, nor for some months to come.
Every woman who wishes to aid in this effort for the safety and elevation of our sex can do so by promoting the sale of this work, and its introduction as a text-book into schools. An edition for the use of schools will be in readiness next fall, which will contain school exercises, and questions that will promote thought and discussion in classrooms, in reference to various topics included in the science of Domestic Economy. And it is hoped that a previous large sale of the present volume will prepare the public mind to favor the introduction of this branch of study into both public and private schools. Ladies who write for the press, and all those who have influence with editors, can aid by directing general attention to this effort.
All the profits of the authors derived from the edition of this volume prepared for schools, will be paid into the Treasury of the A. W.E. Association, and the amount will be stated in the annual reports.
The complementary volume of this work will follow in a few months, and will consist, to a great extent, ofreceipts and directionsin all branches of domestic economy, especially in the department ofhealthful and economical cooking. The most valuable receipts in myDomestic Receipt Book, heretofore published by the Harpers, will be retained, and a very large number added of new ones, which are healthful, economical, and in many cases ornamental. One special aim will be to point out modes ofeconomizing laborin preparing food.
Many directions will be given that will save from purchasing poisonous milk, meats, beers, and other medicated drinks. Directions for detecting poisonous ingredients in articles for preserving the hair, and in cosmetics for the complexion, which now are ruining health, eyesight, and comfort all over the nation, will also be given.
Particular attention will be given to modes of preparing and preserving clothing, at once economical, healthful, and in good taste.
A large portion of the book will be devoted to instruction, in the various ways in which women mayearn an independent livelihood, especially in employments that can be pursued in sunlight and the open air.
Should any who read this work wish for more minute directions in regard to ventilation of a house already built, or one projected, they can obtain his aid by addressing Lewis Leeds, No. 110 Broadway, New York City. His associate, Mr. Herman Kreitler, who prepared the architectural plans in this work relating to Mr. Leeds's system, can be addressed at the same place.
NEW YORK, June 1, 1869.
[Many words not contained in this GLOSSARY will be found explained in the body of the work, in the places where they first occur.]
Action brought by the Commonwealth:A prosecution conducted in the name of the public, or by the authority of the State.
Albumen:Nourishing matter stored up between the undeveloped germ and its protecting wrappings in the seed of many plants. It is the flowery part of grain, the oily part of poppy seeds, the fleshy part in cocoa- nuts, etc.
Alcoholic:Made of or containing alcohol, an inflammable liquid which is the basis of ardent spirits.
Alkali,(plural,alkalies:) A chemical substance, which has the property of combining with and neutralizing the properties of acids, producing salts by the combination. Alkalies change most of the vegetable blues and purples to green, red to purple, and yellow to brown.Caustic alkali:An alkali deprived of all impurities, being thereby rendered more caustic and violent in its operation. This term is usually applied to pure potash.Fixed alkali:An alkali that emits no characteristic smell, and can not be volatilized or evaporated without great difficulty. Potash and soda are called the fixed alkalies. Soda is also called afossilormineral alkali,and potash thevegetable alkali. Volatile alkali:An elastic, transparent, colorless, and consequently an invisible gas, known by the name of ammonia or ammoniacal gas. The odor of spirits of hartshorn is caused by this gas.
Anglo-American:English-American, relating to Americans descended from English ancestors.
Anther:That part of the stamen of a flower which contains the pollen or farina, a sort of mealy powder or dust, which is necessary to the production of the flower.
Anthracite:One of the must valuable kinds of mineral coal, containing no bitumen. It is very abundant in the United States.
Aperient:Opening.
Archaology:A discourse or treatise on antiquities.
Arrow-root: A white powder, obtained from the fecula or starch, of several species of tuberous plants in the East and West Indies, Bermuda, and other places. That from Bermuda is most highly esteemed. It is used as an article for the table, in the form of puddings, and also as a highly nutritive, easily digested, and agreeable food for invalids. It derives its name from having been originally used by the Indians as a remedy for the poison of their arrows, by mashing and applying it to the wound.
Articulating process: The protuberance or projecting part of a bone, by which it is so joined to another bone as to enable the two to move upon each other.
Asceticism: The state of an ascetic or hermit, who flies from society and lives in retirement, or who practices a greater degree of mortification and austerity than others do, or who inflicts extraordinary severities upon himself.
Astral lamp: A lamp, the principle of which was invented by Benjamin Thompson, (a native of Massachusetts, and afterward Count Rumford,) in which the oil is contained in a large horizontal ring, having at the centre a burner which communicates with the ring by tubes. The ring is placed a little below the level of the flame, and from its large surface affords a supply of oil for many hours.
Astute: Shrewd.
Auricles: (From a Latin word, signifying the ear,) the name given to two appendages of the heart, from their fancied resemblance to the ear.
Baglivi, (George): An eminent physician, who was born at Ragusa, in 1668, and was educated at Naples and Paris. Pope Clement XIV., on the ground of his great merit, appointed him, while a very young man, Professor of Anatomy and Surgery in the College of Sapienza, at Rome. He wrote several works, and did much to promote the cause of medical science. He died A.D. 1706.
Bass, or bass-wood: A large forest-tree of America, sometimes called the lime-tree. The wood is white and soft, and the bark is sometimes used for bandages.
Bell, Sir Charles: A celebrated surgeon, who was born in Edinburgh, in the year 1778. He commenced his career in London, in 1806, as a lecturer on Anatomy and Surgery. In 1830, he received the honors of knighthood, and in 1836 was appointed Professor of Surgery in the College of Edinburgh. He died near Worcester, in England, April 29th, 1842. His writings are very numerous and have been, much celebrated. Among the most important of these, to general readers, are hisIllustrations of Paley's Natural Theology, and his treatise onThe Hand, its Mechanism and Vital Endowments, as evincing Design.
Bergamot: A fruit which was originally produced by ingrafting a branch of a citron or lemon-tree upon the stock of a peculiar kind of pear, called the bergamot pear.
Biased: Cut diagonally from one corner to another of a square or rectangular piece of cloth.
Bias pieces: Triangular pieces cut as above mentioned.
Bituminous: Containingbitumen, which is an inflammable mineral substance, resembling tar or pitch in its properties and uses. Among different bituminous substances, the namesnaphthaandpetroliumhave been given to those which are fluid,maltha, to that which has the consistence of pitch, andasphaltumto that which is solid.
Blight: A disease in plants by which they are blasted, or prevented from producing fruit.
Blonde lace: Lace made of silk.
Blood heat: The temperature which the blood is always found to maintain, or ninety-eight degrees of Fahrenheit's thermometer.
Blue vitriol: Sulphate of copper.
Blunts: Needles of a short and thick shape, distinguished fromSharps, which are long and slender.
Booking: A kind of thin carpeting or coarse baize.
Botany: (From a Greek word signifying an herb,) a knowledge of plants; the science which treats of plants.
Brazil wood: The central part or heart of a large tree which grows in Brazil, called theCaesalpinia echinata. It produces very lively and beautiful red tints, but they are not permanent.
Bronze: A metallic composition, consisting of copper and tin.
Brulure: A French term, denoting a burning or scalding; a blasting of plants.
Brussels, (carpet:) A kind of carpeting, so called from the city of Brussels, in Europe. Its basis is composed of a warp and woof of strong linen threads, with the warp of which are intermixed about five times the quantity of woolen threads of different colors.
Bulb: A root with a round body, like the onion, turnip, or hyacinth.
Bulbous: Having a bulb.
Byron, (George Gordon,) Lord: A celebrated poet, who was born in London, January 23d, 1788, and died in Missolonghi, in Greece, April 18th, 1824.
Calisthenics: From two Greek words—kalos, beauty, andsthenos, strength, being the union of both.
Camwood: A dyewood, procured from a leguminous (or pod-bearing) tree, growing on the western coast of Africa, and calledBaphianitida.
Canker-worm: A worm which is very destructive to trees and plants. It springs from an egg deposited by a miller that issues from the ground, and in some years destroys the leaves and fruit of apple and other trees.
Capillary: A minute, hair-like tube.
Carbon: A simple, inflammable body, forming the principal part of wood and coal, and the whole of the diamond.
Carbonic acid:A compound gas, consisting of one part of carbon and two parts of oxygen; fatal to animal life. It has lately been obtained in a solid form.
Carbonic Oxide:A compound, consisting of one part of carbon and one part of oxygen; it is fatal to animal life. Burns with a pale, blue flame, forming carbonic acid.
Carmine:A crimson color, the most beautiful of all the reds. It is prepared from a decoction of the powdered cochineal insect, to which alum and other substances are added.
Caseine:One of the great forms of blood-making matter; the cheesy or curd-part of milk; found in both animal and vegetable kingdoms.
Caster:A small vial or vessel for the table, in which to put vinegar, mustard, pepper, etc. Also, a small wheel on a swivel-joint, on which furniture may be turned in any direction.
_Chancellor of the Exchequer: In England, the highest judge of the law; the principal financial minister of a government, and the one who manages its revenue.
Chateau:A castle, a mansion.
Chemistry:The science which treats of the elementary constituents of bodies.
Chinese belle,deformities of: In China, it is the fashion to compress the feet of female infants, to prevent their growth; in consequence of which, the feet of all the females of China are distorted, and so small that the individuals can not walk with ease.
Chloride:A compound of chlorine and some other substance.
Chlorineis a simple substance, formerly called oxymuriatic acid. In its pure state, it is a gas of green color, (hence its name, from a Greek word signifying green.) Like oxygen, it supports the combustion of some inflammable substances.Chloride of limein a compound of chlorine and lime.
Cholera infantum:A bowel-complaint to which infants are subject.
Chyle:A white juice formed from the chyme, and consisting of the finer and more nutritious parts of the food. It is afterward converted into blood.
Chyme:The result of the first process which food undergoes in the stomach previously to its being converted into chyle.
Cicuta:The common American hemlock, an annual plant of four or five feet in height, and found commonly along walls and fences and about old ruins and buildings. It is a virulent poison as well as one of the most important and valuable medicinal vegetables. It is a very different plant from the hemlock-tree orPinus Canadiensis.
Clarke, (Sir Charles Mansfield,) Dr.:A distinguished English physician and surgeon, who was born, in London, May 28th, 1783. Ha was appointed physician to Queen Adelaide, wife of King William IV., in 1830, and in 1831 he was created a baronet. He was the author of several valuable medical works.
Cobalt:A brittle metal, of a reddish-gray color and weak metallic lustre, used in coloring glass. It is not easily melted nor oxidized in the air.
Cochineal:A color procured from the cochineal insect, (orCoccus cacti,) which feeds upon the leaves of several species of the plant called cactus, and which is supposed to derive its coloring matter from its food. Its natural color is crimson; but, by the addition of a preparation of potash, it yields a rich scarlet dye.
Cologne-water:A fragrant perfume, which derives its name from having been originally made in the city of Cologne, which is situated on the river Rhine, in Germany. The best kind is still procured from that city.
Comparative anatomy:The science which has for its object a comparison of the anatomy, structure, and functions of the various organs of animals, plants, etc., with those of the human body.
Confection:A sweetmeat; a preparation of fruit with sugar; also a preparation of medicine with honey, syrup, or similar saccharine substance, for the purpose of disguising the unpleasant taste of the medicine.
Cooper, Sir Astley Paston:A celebrated English surgeon, who was born at Brooke, in Norfolk county, England, August 23d, 1768, and commenced the practice of surgery in London, in 1792. He was appointed surgeon to King George IV. in 1827, was created a baronet in 1831, and died February 12th, 1841. He was the author of many valuable works.
Copal:A hard, shining, transparent resin, of a light citron color, brought originally from Spanish-America, and now almost wholly from the East-Indies. It is principally employed in the preparation ofcopal varnish.
Copper, Sulphate of:See _Sulphate of copper.
Copperas:(Sulphate of iron or green vitriol,) a bright green mineral substance, formed by the decomposition of a peculiar ore of iron called pyrites, which is a sulphuret of iron. It is first in the form of a greenish-white powder or crust, which is dissolved in water, and beautiful green crystals of copperas are obtained by evaporation. It is principally used in dyeing and in making black ink. Its solution, mixed with a decoction of oak bark, produces a black color.
Coronary:Relating to a crown or garland. In anatomy, it is applied to arteries which encompass the heart, in the manner, as it is fancied, of a garland.
Corrosive sublimate:A poisonous substance composed of chlorine and quicksilver.
Cosmetics:Preparations which, some people foolishly think will preserve and beautify the skin.
Cream of tartar: SeeTartar.
Curculio: A weevil or worm, which affects the fruit of the plum-tree and sometimes that of the apple-tree, causing the unripe fruit to fall to the ground.
Cuvier, Baron: The moat eminent naturalist of the present age; was born A. D. 1769, and died A.D. 1832. He was Professor of Natural History in the College of France, and held various important posts under the French government at different times. His works on Natural History are of the greatest value.
Cynosure: The constellation of the Lesser Bear, containing the star near the North Pole, by which sailors steer. It is used, in a figurative sense, as synonymous withpole-starorguide, or anything to which the eyes of many are directed.
De Tocqueville: SeeTocqueville.
Diamond cement: A cement sold in the shops, and used for mending broken glass and similar articles.
Drab: A thick woolen cloth, of a light brown or dun color. The name is sometimes used for the color itself.
Dredging-box: A box with holes in the top, used to sift or scatter flour on meat when roasting.
Drill: (In husbandry,) to sow grain in rows, drills, or channels; the row of grain so sowed.
Duchess of Orleans: SeeOrleans.
TheEast, and theEastern States: Those of the United States situated in the north-east part of the country, including Maine, New Hampshire, Massachusetts, Rhode Island, Connecticut, and Vermont.
Elevation, (of a house:) A plan representing the upright view of a house, as a ground-plan shows its appearance on the ground.
Euclid: A celebrated mathematician, who was born in Alexandria, in Egypt, about two hundred and eighty years before Christ. He distinguished himself by his writings on music and geometry. The most celebrated of his works is hisElements of Geometry, which is in use at the present day. He established a school at Alexandria, which became so famous that, from his time to the conquest of Alexandria by the Saracens, (A.D. 646,) no mathematician was found who had not studied at Alexandria. Ptolemy, King of Egypt, was one of his pupils; and it was to a question of this king, whether there was not a shorter way of coming at geometry than by the study of hisElements, that Euclid made the celebrated answer, "There is no royal path to geometry."
Equatororequinoctial line: An imaginary line passing round the earth, from east to west and directly under the sun, which always shines nearly perpendicularly down upon all countries situated near the equator.
Evolve: To throw off, to discharge.
Exchequer:A court in England in which the Chancellor presides, and where the revenues of and the debts due to the king, are recovered. This court was originally established by King William, (called "the Conqueror,") who died A.D. 1087; and its name is derived from a checkered cloth (Frenchechiquier, a chess-hoard, checker-work) on the table.
Excretion:Something discharged from the body, a separation of animal matters.Excrementitious:Consisting of matter excreted from the body; containing excrements.
Fahrenheit, (Gabriel Daniel:)A celebrated natural philosopher, who was born at Dantzig, A.D. 1686. He made great improvements in the thermometer, and his name is sometimes used for that instrument.
Farinaceous:Mealy, tasting like meal.
Fell:To turn down on the wrong side the raw edges of a seam after it has been stitched, run, or sewed, and then to hem or sew it to the cloth.
Festivalsof the Jews, the three great annual: These were, the Feast of the Passover, that of Pentecost, and that of Tabernacles; on occasion of which, all the males of the nation were required to visit the temple at Jerusalem, in whatever part of the country they might reside. See Exodus 28:14, 17; 34:23; Leviticus 33: 4; Deuteronomy 16:16. The Passover was kept in commemoration of the deliverance of the Israelites from Egypt, and was so named because the night before their departure the destroying angel, who slew all the first-born of the Egyptians,passed overthe houses of the Israelites without entering them. See Exodus 12. The Feast of Pentecost was so called from a word meaningthe fiftieth, because it was celebrated on the fiftieth day after the Passover, and was instituted in commemoration of the giving of the Law from Mount Sinai on the fiftieth day from the departure out of Egypt. It is also called the Feast of Weeks, because it was kept seven weeks after the Passover. See Exodus 34:32; Leviticus 23: 15-21; Deuteronomy 16: 9, 10. The Feast of Tabernacles, or Feast of Tents, was so called because it was celebrated under tents or tabernacles of green boughs, and was designed to commemorate their dwelling in tents during their passage through the wilderness. At this feast they also returned thanks, to God for the fruits of the earth after they had been gathered. See Exodus 23: 16; Leviticus 33: 34-44; Deuteronomy 16:13; and also St. John 7: 2.
Fire-blight:A disease in the pear and some other fruit-trees, in which they appear burnt as if by fire. It is supposed, by some to be caused by an insect, others suppose it to be caused by-an over-abundance of sap.
Fluting-iron:An instrument for making flutes, channels, furrows, or hollows in ruffles, etc.
Foundation muslin: A nice kind of buckram, stiff and white, used for the foundation or basis of bonnets, etc.
Free States: A phrase formerly used to distinguish those States in which slavery was not allowed, as distinguished from Slave States, in which slavery did exist.
French chalk: A variety of the mineral called talc, unctuous to the touch, of greenish color, glossy, soft, and easily scratched, and leaving a silvery line when drawn on paper. It is used for marking on cloth, and extracting grease-spots.
Fuller's earth: A species of clay remarkable for its property of absorbing oil, for which reason it is valuable for extracting grease from cloth, etc. It is used by fullers in scouring and cleansing cloth, whence its name.
Fustic: The wood of a tree which grows in the West-Indies calledMorus tinctoria. It affords a durable but not very brilliant yellow dye, and is also used in producing some greens and drab colors.
Gastric: (From the Greek [Transliterated: gasths],gaster, the belly,) belonging or relating to the belly, or stomach.Gastric juice: The fluid which dissolves the food in the stomach. It is limpid, like water, of a saltish taste, and without odor.Geology: The science which treats of the formation of the earth.
Gluten: The glue-like, sticky, tenacious substance which gives adhesiveness to dough. The principle of gelly, (now generally writtenjelly.)
Gore: A triangular piece of cloth.
Goring: Cut in a triangular shape.
Gothic: A peculiar and strongly-marked style of architecture, sometimes called the ecclesiastical style, because it is most frequently used in cathedrals, churches, abbeys, and other religious edifices. Its principle seems to have originated in the imitation of groves and bowers, under which the ancients performed their sacred rites; its clustered pillars and pointed arches very well representing the trunks of trees and their in-locking branches.
GourmandorGormand: A glutton, a greedy eater. In agriculture, it is applied to twigs which take up the sap but bear only leaves.
Green vitriol: SeeCopperas.
Griddle: An iron pan, of a peculiarly broad and shallow construction, used for baking cakes.
Ground-plan: The map or plan of the floor of any building, in which the various apartments, windows, doors, fire-places, and other things are represented, like the rivers, towns, mountains, roads, etc., on a map.
Gum Arabic: A vegetable juice which exudes through the bark of theAcacia, Mimosa nilotica, and some other similar trees growing in Arabia, Egypt, Senegal, and Central Africa. It is the purest of all gums.
Hardpan: The hard, unbroken layer of earth below the mould or cultivated soil.
Hartshorn, (spirits of:) A volatile alkali, originally prepared from the horns of the stag or hart, but now procured from various other substances. It is known by the name of ammonia or spirits of ammonia.
Hemlock: see _Cicuta.
Horticulturist:One skilled in horticulture, or the art of cultivating gardens: horticulture being to the garden what agriculture is to the farm, the application of labor and science to a limited spot, for convenience, for profit, or for ornament—though implying a higher state of cultivation than is common in agriculture. It includes the cultivation of culinary vegetables and of fruits, and forcing or exotic gardening as far as respects useful products.
Hydrogen: A very light, inflammable gas, of which water is in part composed. It is used to inflate balloons.
Hypochondriasis: Melancholy, dejection, a disorder of the imagination, in which the person supposes he is afflicted with various diseases.
Hysteria or hysterics: A spasmodic, convulsive affection of the nerves, to which women are subject. It is somewhat similar to hypochondriasis in men.
Ingrain: A kind of carpeting, in which the threads are dyed in the grain or raw material before manufacture.
Ipecac: (An abbreviation ofipecacuanha) an Indian medicinal plant, acting as an emetic.
Isinglass: A fine kind of gelatin or glue, prepared from the swimming-bladders of fishes, used as a cement, and also as an ingredient in food and medicine. The name is sometimes applied to a transparent mineral substance called mica.
Jams: A side-piece or post.
Kamtschadales: Inhabitants ofKamtschatka, a large peninsula situated on the north-eastern coast of Asia, having the North Pacific Ocean on the east. It is remarkable for its extreme cold, which is heightened by a range of very lofty mountains extending the whole length of the peninsula, several of which are volcanic. It is very deficient in vegetable productions, but produces a great variety of animals, from which the richest and most valuable furs are procured. The inhabitants are in general below the common height, but have broad shoulders and large heads. It is under the dominion of Russia.
Kerosene: Refined Petroleum, which see.
Kink: A knotty twist in a thread or rope.
Lambrequin: Originally a kind of pendent scarf or covering attached to a helmet to protect and adorn it. Hence, a pendent ornamental curtain over a window.
Lapland: A country at the extreme north part of Europe, where it is very cold. It contains lofty mountains, some of which are covered with perpetual snow and ice.
Latin:The language of the Latins or inhabitants of Latium, the principal country of ancient Italy. After the building of Rome, that city became the capital of the whole country.
Leguminous:Pod-bearing.
Lent:A fast of the Christian Church, (lasting forty days, from Ash-Wednesday to Easter,) in commemoration of our Saviour's miraculous fast of forty days and forty nights in the wilderness. The word Lent means spring, this fast always occurring at that season of the year.
Levite:One of the tribe of Levi, the son of Jacob, which tribe was set apart from the others to minister in the services of the Tabernacle, and the Temple at Jerusalem. The priests were taken from this tribe. See Numbers 1: 47-53.
Ley:Water which has percolated through ashes, earth, or other substances, dissolving and imbibing a part of their contents. It is generally spelledlye.
Linnaeus, (Charles:)A native of Sweden, and the most celebrated naturalist of his age. He was born May 13th, 1707, and died January 11th, 1778. His life was devoted to the study of natural history. The science of botany, in particular, is greatly indebted to his labors. HisAmaenitates Academicae(Academical Recreations) is a collection of the dissertations of his pupils, edited by himself, a work rich in matters relating to the history and habits of plants. He was the first who arranged Natural History into a regular system, which has been generally called by his name. His proper name was Linne.
Lobe:A division, a distinct part; generally applied to the two divisions of the lungs.
Loire:The largest river of France, being about five hundred and fifty miles in. length. It rises in the mountains of Cevennes, and empties into the Atlantic Ocean about forty miles below the city of Nantes. It divides France into two almost equal parts.
London Medical Society:A distinguished association, formed in 1773. It has published some valuable volumes of its transactions. It has a library of about 40,000 volumes, which is kept in a house presented to the Society, in 1788, by the celebrated Dr. Lettsom, who was one of its first members.
Louis XIV.:A celebrated King of France and Navarre, who was born September 5th, 1638, and died September 1st, 1715. His mother having before had no children, though she had been married twenty-two years, his birth was considered as a particular favor from heaven, and he was called the "Gift of God." He is sometimes styled "Louis the Great," is notorious as a period of licentiousness. He left behind him monuments of unprecedented splendor and expense, consisting of palaces, gardens, and other like works.